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August 2003�� 1

How metaphors driveinnovation

A disciple once tried to test his guru's ability to predict. He told the guru that he had a bird in his fist and asked him whether it was dead or alive.The guru replied, "My son, the answer depends on whether you want the bird tobe alive or dead. If I say it is alive, you can tighten your fist and crush it todeath, and if I say it is dead you can open your fist and let it fly."

The story, which uses the human hand as a metaphor, signifies that the futureof any company is entirely in the hands of its people. This story was narrated toThermax India employees recently as part of an exercise to reinvigorate thecompany's tottering business.

Without doubt metaphor has played an important role in the Indian societyas a means of transferring knowledge and wisdom. Managers just need to observeIndian spiritual gurus and politicians to appreciate the effectiveness of the artof applying imagery is a given context.

In the West top management gurus like Tom Peters (rolodex) and CharlesHandy (shamrock) have had a powerful influence on American managers byrelating to appropriate metaphors for communicating a company's strategicvision, for motivation, building leadership skills and team building.

In a recent article R Gopalakrishnan, executive director of Tata Sons, hasmade a strong case for applying the metaphor approach in Indian businesses.He said that in the traditional Anglo-Saxon view, an organization is governedby engineering. In the traditional Eastern view, the organization is governed bybiology. "The machine metaphor is so powerful, it shapes the character ofWestern organizations. The living being metaphor is so powerful, it shapes thecharacter of Eastern organizations."

Continued on page 2...

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Managers may want to digdeep into the rich repositoryof Indian metaphors to widentheir power of imagination fordeveloping market-beatingproducts and processes

By Benedict Paramanand

A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FOR SMART MANAGERSAUGUST 2003 Vol . 1 ISSUE - 4www.managementnext.com

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A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FOR SMART MANAGERS

Continued from page 1...

The problem arises when an Indian manager thinks inthe Western idiom but behaves in the Eastern pattern. "Itis this duality that is being severely challenged in thecorridors of Indian business houses."

This duality is seen as one of the major reasons for thepoor history of innovation in India. This story extends evento the larger national and societal issues where compellingproblems such as population explosion, illiteracy,environmental pollution and healthcare have rarely seenan imaginative approach to problem solving.

It is interesting to note that both the Japanese andChinese make use of a more non-linear, organic or poeticunderstanding of metaphor. A standard Japanesemanagement text, for example, is concerned with the artand strategy of swordsmanship.

Classical vs. modern metaphors

Metaphors have their source, among other areas, inpoetry, literature, folk art and music. Music is a universallanguage for communicating ideas and emotions, and

musical concerns such as communication, listening,rhythm, technique, preparation, improvisation andinterpretation, rehearsal and performance, the role ofconductors, composers, soloists and accompanists, allprovide a stimulating insight into familiar managementconcerns such as teamwork, leadership, creativity,mentorship and personal development.

In a paper titled 'Metaphors and Managers: New Waysof Thinking and Seeing' authors S Raghu Raman and SRamachandra of ACME, Chennai, have argued that:"While the classic metaphors have been helpful, theyhave restricted the managers' world-view to particularways of thinking. One of the ways of breaking out ofthis trap is by generating more metaphors. As a result,many new ways of seeing and applying managementideas are expected to emerge."

However, some management thinkers believe thatmetaphors are natural to the language, to the culture inquestion or associated with traditional (or emergent)symbol systems and that it is better to encourage andlegitimize an existing skill rather than implant a new one.

The ACME authors note that metaphors are no longerdecorative tools to garnish languages; rather, advancementin cognitive science has revealed that they are an essentialcomponent of a manager's thinking process.

Clearly, succeeding in a difficult marketplace needs ahigh degree of imagination leading to innovation inproducts and processes. Metaphors can make a manager'seffort a lot easier.

Metaphors are no longer decorative tools to garnishlanguages; rather, advancement in cognitive science hasrevealed that they are an essential component of amanager's thinking process.

Letters and Article Submissions

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MissionTo be an effective resource of information, knowledge andperspective to managers

Information in this newsletter is drawn from a variety of sources,including published reports, interviews with practicing managers,academia and consultants. While doing so utmost importance is given toauthenticity and integrity.

Editorial TeamPublisher & Editor Benedict Paramanand

Contributing Editor Carol Metzker

Editorial Assistant Surekha Singh

Business DevelopmentConsultant Hariharan S Iyer

Contributors to this IssueDave Rogers Asia’s Massive Impact Coach

Rajeev Gowda Faculty, IIMB

Harish Bijoor CEO Harish Bijoor Consults,Bangalore

Maher Dadha Antique Art Dealer

Carol Metzker Freelance Management Consultant,West Chester, PA, USA

Rajni Ivin Sasken, Bangalore

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August 2003�� 3

management trends

Is CEO a scapegoat?

I n the days of tighter corporate governance codes following appalling scams in India and elsewhere, the question doingthe rounds is: Is the CEO now much weaker with the boardsassuming greater powers? One is already seeing a trend whereCEOs are booted out at the drop of a hat when a company'sprojected financials don't match up or a strategic acquisitiongoes sour.

Rakesh Khurana who teaches business administration atHarvard Business School, is worried about a conceptual errorthat a lot of people make, which is overestimation of the CEO'srole in firm performance. When things go poorly, turning overthe individual does not necessarily solve the problems of thecompany. GE has 300,000 people in it, and for a century hasproduced a string of good CEOs. To simply attribute theactivities of 300,000 people in a complex set of businesses anda complex set of environments to a single individual is just notempirically justified.

In psychology, they refer to a "fundamental attributionerror." I think that's very dangerous. Companies fall into thattrap when they attempt to solve their problems by getting ridof the CEO without ever actually addressing the underlyingfactors that are really driving their problems

In fact, GE does very well to promote from within, investvery heavily in their people, spend years - rather than daysand weeks - on succession processes. Those things areactionable by other companies. Whereas the best hope forcompanies that fixate on Jack Welch is that someday they

Is there a universal business model?Top Indian managers are often in a dilemma whether to apply the best business models developed in the West or to usethe locally developed ones. Invariably, they would like a blend of the Western model to the local context. But this is notas easy as it sounds.

In a paper Krishna Palepu and Tarun Khanna, both teaching at the Harvard University, have found that managers areforced to choose between one of the two extremes - sophisticated Western or the Indian model often based on quackishresearch findings.

But there is a way out. The authors say that there are universal principles that businesses need to work with. Businessesanywhere can survive in the long run only if they create value for customers and for shareholders. What also aids thisprocess is the universal drive among people to succeed personally and professionally and to contribute to the society andthe family. And, more importantly, the technical formulae for calculating ratios like net present value and breakevenpoint are the same everywhere.

The authors say that there are many areas of management that are also context dependent, especially where the firm hasto interface with the external world markets, regulation and social norms. For example, the authors advise well-managedIndian companies to go in for thoughtful diversification while they advise the opposite to American companies. This isbecause successful new businesses in emerging markets pursue distinctly different strategies compared to their UScounterparts.

Moreover, how a company designs a product and adopts a pricing strategy are determined by local customer tastes,purchasing power and market infrastructure. That's the reason many successful multinational companies prefer to workwith a local partner since a one-size-fits-all management theory doesn't work everywhere.

will find another child coming from western Massachusettswho overcame a stutter at 8 years old - and somehow that canbe the explanation for why this individual does so well.

Khurana is not saying that CEOs don't ever matter. Theymatter only under certain kinds of conditions that are veryrarely taken into account when board members get in theprocess of firing a CEO and then searching for an outsider."What are the strategic problems that we're facing? Where isit that we're trying to go to?" Boards very rarely go throughthat kind of process. Because of the pressure from analysts,the pressure from investors, they look for a high-profileindividual who will temporarily restore some confidence.They often end up being a temporary Band-Aid, rather thanfixing the fundamental issues.

Often CEOs are condemned for making the wrongacquisitions or increasing debt. But the boards normallyapprove the strategy, the terms of acquisition, and financing!

They're certainly more involved, whether they want to beor not. A lot of it is process, but there's clearly more time putin by directors now than before. Yet for a board that meetssix times a year for a couple of hours, how much can youexpect a director to know about what's going on in a company?They have a limited amount of time - that's why I have theview that at least half of the board ought to be those whohave had CEO-level experience, because they're moreinstinctive, they've been there before, they know a bit morethan others about what to look for.

�� August 20034

management trends

Bad forecast, good decision

How well can futurology help strategists identify the mostimportant upcoming business trends and hottest newtechnologies? To Bob Johansen, pioneer futurologist andpresident of the Institute for the Future, an independent non-profit based in Menlo Park, California, USA, no one can predictthe future but an enlightened approach towards forecasting canlead to 'good' decisions even if it generates 'bad' forecasts.

Speaking at a conference in Wharton titled "PeripheralVision: Sensing & Acting on Weak Signals," held in May 2003,Johansen explained his approach to futurology while identifyinghis vision of how the "core" and "periphery" will be defined incoming decades. His presentation was called "ScanningTechnology Horizons."

Johansen hastened to add that while futurologists can'tpredict the future, "it is possible to have a bad [inaccurate]forecast and still make a good decision" on the basis of thatforecast. The key is to devise an enlightened approach to makingprojections. "You need strong opinions that are weakly held,so you can engage in dialogue … Technologists take 30 yearsto be an overnight success. The next successful technology isone that failed 20 years ago."

Johansen stressed that the lines that traditionally dividedcategories of technology are blurring because technologies areincreasingly converging. As the "core" expands and the"periphery" is continually redefined, it is harder than ever fortraditional specialists to manage the process of sensing"relevant" signals and acting on them. For example, old-fashioned categories of technology such as "information,""materials," "biology" and "energy" are blurring. Until recently,strategists in "information" industries merely had to monitor

trends narrowly defined as "information technology." Strategistsin "bioscience" companies merely monitored trends in"bioscience" companies - and so forth.

As hard as that was, strategists now face a bigger challenge.They must widen their focus and scan data in areas that werelong irrelevant - and are still new and often unfamiliar. Forexample, an emerging core technology of the health economyis "bioinformatics," which Johansen defined as "seeing livingsystems through the lens of information technology." It includessuch recently defined, crossover disciplines as "genomics,""proteomics" and "metabolomics." Thus, strategists in manybioscience companies must now monitor events in the"information" sector, and strategists in information technologycompanies must scan events in the biosciences.

The transformation from an "information economy" into a"health economy" is becoming a major economic driver in thisconvergence, Johansen stressed. "Most of the funding is[currently] in the health care sector," he added.

Regarding the gradual merger of information technologyand life sciences, Johansen noted that "information technology(IT) will no longer be the driver;" the driver will be lifesciences. "We will be moving from the electromechanicalmodel [of the Information Economy] back to the organicmodel." As a result, "dilemmas" rather than "problems" willbe the focus. "IT people are in trouble," Johansen cautioned."We are trained to solve problems. But you don't solvedilemmas; you manage dilemmas."

Recentralizing ITLarge companies face a quandary in managing their IT in-frastructure-the hardware, operating systems, and networksthat account for 40 to 60 percent of their total IT costs. Theyknow that a centralized IT infrastructure serving all of acompany's business units delivers huge economies of scaleand higher performance but can be inflexible and unrespon-sive to local needs.

Yet a decentralized infrastructure, though more flexible, isnot only 20 to 30 percent more expensive than a centralizedone but also less reliable. Although decentralized models nowprevail, the pendulum is swinging back toward centralized con-trol, a report in McKinsey Quarterly July 2003 states. A newmodel of IT governance may capture the best of both worlds.

To capture the efficiencies of consolidation while provid-ing for flexibility and accountability, IT managers should pre-pare a menu of available products, with clearly specified costsand service levels. Business managers can select the productsand services they need-and are willing to pay for..

An enlightened approach to making projections is emerging

August 2003�� 5

T elecom companies mired in over-capacity are usingservices that have failed to take off in the market toimprove their own productivity and efficiency. In a paper titledRational Exuberance: The Wireless Industry's Killer "B"Venkatesh Shankar, Tony O'Driscoll and David Reibstein havefound that from the ashes of an overbuilt industry rises apromising new marketplace: business-to-employeecommunications

The telecommunications industry worldwide is mired inovercapacity, deep debt, razor-thin margins, and bankruptcies.However, more than two-thirds of the 473 firms in the recentstudy of companies' wireless strategies, investments, andexperiences are using the wireless Internet primarily forbusiness-to-employee (B2E) applications to improveproductivity and operational efficiency. The surveyed sectorsincluded banking, insurance, manufacturing,telecommunications, transportation, media, utilities, retail,health care, and government.

Although it is true that mobile commerce has been slowto develop, particularly in B2C applications, research showsthat many companies have been quick to capitalize on wirelessconnectivity in a market surprisingly close to home: their ownwork forces.

Their study, which included companies in the U.S. andEurope, reveals that a significant majority (69 percent) offirms are focusing their m-business interests on B2Eapplications. A smaller proportion of firms (37 percent) haveinvested in B2C applications. An even smaller proportion

Business-to-employee comes to the rescue

management trends

Delusions of successIt's now an accepted fact that most major business initiatives--mergers and acquisitions, capital investments, market

entries--fail to pay off. Economists would argue that the low success rate reflects a rational assessment of risk, with thereturns from a few successes outweighing the losses of many failures.

But two distinguished scholars of decision-making, Dan Lovallo of the University of New South Wales and Nobellaureate Daniel Kahneman of Princeton University, provide a very different explanation. In a paper titled 'Delusions ofSuccess: How Optimism Undermines Executives' Decisions' published in Harvard Business Review July 1, 2003 theyshow that a combination of cognitive biases (including anchoring and competitor neglect) and organizational pressureslead managers to make overly optimistic forecasts in analyzing proposals for major investments.

By exaggerating the likely benefits of a project and ignoring the potential pitfalls, they lead their organizations intoinitiatives that are doomed to fall well short of expectations. The biases and pressures cannot be escaped, the authors argue,but they can be tempered by applying a very different method of forecasting--one that takes a much more objective"outside view" of an initiative's likely outcome.

This outside view, also known as reference-class forecasting, completely ignores the details of the project at hand;instead, it encourages managers to examine the experiences of a class of similar projects, to lay out a rough distribution ofoutcomes for this reference class, and then to position the current project in that distribution.

of firms (19 percent) are using mobile solutions in their B2Binteractions. The B2E applications receiving the mostemphasis include mobile office (communications and accessto corporate information), customer care (contract andtransaction management), and operational productivity (asset/fleet management and inventory management). Somecompanies are also focusing on mobilizing supply chainsacross organizations.

The different emphases reflect variations in strategic intent.B2E m-business investments suggest an interest in improvingoperational performance. B2C m-business investments arealigned with improving the firm's range and its customerreach. B2B applications are used partly to effect businessmodel changes and partly to boost operational performance.Thus, it appears that firms' main near-term interest is to usem-business to improve performance, not draw revenue, andthat they believe performance improvements will be achievedby focusing first on employees. This is a natural developmentin a difficult economic environment. Performanceenhancement often translates into cost savings, which can bequick, observable, and measurable. Revenue growthfrequently takes time and requires customer education andbehavioral change.

Exploring more deeply, though, the authors are able tosee additional correlations among industries. Banking andinsurance traditionally emphasize customer service. But bothindustries are also placing emphasis on wireless B2E mobileoffice technology, reflecting the higher degree of mobility ofthe sectors' work forces.

�� August 20036

A retired professor of business, education, political science,sociology, and psychology-not to mention the author of six

books of poetry-James G.March recently turned hisattention to film. Nearly adecade after he last taughthis landmark courseO r g a n i z a t i o n a lLeadership, March hastranslated part of it into thelecture-length film Passionand Discipline: DonQuixote's Lessons forLeadership, according to areport in Stanford BusinessMagazine May 2003.

But why Don Quixote? What lessons can we learn fromthe fictional 16th-century gentleman who careered around theSpanish countryside tilting at windmills and challenging sheepto battle? March says that: "We live in a world that emphasizesrealistic expectations and clear successes. Quixote had neither.

But through failure after failure, he persists in his vision andhis commitment. He persists because he knows who he is."

Quixote lived his life with passion and discipline, Marchsays, much as a flamenco dancer performs with seemingabandon, yet acts within the strictures of the art. Leaders canlearn from Quixote, whose life was dedicated to imagination,commitment, and joy. "The critical concerns of leadershipare not technical questions of management or power, they arefundamental issues of life," March says.

If the bumbling Don Quixote seems an unlikely role modelfor leaders, so March's required reading - War and Peace,Othello, Saint Joan, and Don Quixote - must have appearedill suited to the study of Organizational Leadership, the classthat inspired the film. Back in the seventies March had beenteaching a traditional course in business leadership when herealized the questions it asked were better addressed in greatliterature than in any of the standard texts on leadership.

Passion and Discipline had its official premiere at Stanfordin February 2003. But a few weeks earlier, before an audiencepeppered with former students, the film was quietly previewedas part of the school's Lifelong Learning initiative. Followingthe show and a break for tapas and Spanish wine, March led a

management trends

Don Quixote's lessons for Leadershipdiscussion where more questions were raised than answeredthe magazine reports.

How do the issues raised in the film apply to our dailylives? How do we recognize a Don Quixote if we meet one?How can we tell if he is someone who has something valuableto contribute or if he is just going to waste our resources?How do we tell good ideas from bad ones? "Overwhelmingly,new ideas are bad ones," said March. "It's very hard to tell thedifference. I'd say it's a hopeless endeavor." He smiled."Although I suppose deep down I think I'm pretty good abouttelling them apart."

How to transfer tacit knowledgeThe acquisition and application of knowledge, in particu-

lar tacit knowledge (TK), are seen as decisive competitive fac-tors in the knowledge society of the twenty-first century. De-spite much talk about the importance of knowledge transfer,little research shows how to identify and measure TK, lessresearch addresses how to transfer TK between individualsand even fewer of these approaches offer any technology thatcan assist with transfer, states a paper titled 'Acquiring andApplying Conceptualized Tacit Knowledge' in the Journal ofInformation & Knowledge Management, Vol. 2, No. 2 (2003)by Debbie Richards Peter Busch.

This paper does not address the issues of identification andmeasurement of TK. The purpose of this paper is two-fold:describe a knowledge acquisition and representation technique,known as Ripple Down Rules (RDR), which can be used tocapture knowledge, explicit and tacit, in context from thosealready identified as experts and to describe a set-theoreticaltechnique, known as formal concept analysis (FCA) to assisttransfer of the RDR knowledge to another human.

Unlike most knowledge acquisition approaches, the RDRknowledge acquisition technique does not rely on the expertto specify what they know. Instead, knowledge becomes codi-fied by the RDR system while the domain expert exercises hisor her expertise. The approach does not capture all organiza-tional knowledge, but the knowledge that is captured will be amixture of different types of knowledge, including formal andcodified knowledge that can be learnt from a book and prac-tice-based knowledge that is passed on while on the job.

The knowledge captured using RDR may be transferred toanother individual through the use of FCA to retrospectivelyand automatically develop knowledge models that the usercan explore. This work offers a possible solution to threeknowledge management challenges: capture, utilization andpreservation of knowledge within an organization.

Leaders can learn from Quixote, whose life wasdedicated to imagination, commitment, and joy. “Thecritical concerns of leadership are not technicalquestions of management or power, they arefundamental issues of life.”

August 2003�� 7

managing you

Master the art of failingYou can train yourself to perform at a higher level but first you've got to have the guts to fail

By Dave RogersI n these rapidly changing times, it is imperative that you embrace changeand adopt a new psychologicalparadigm of learning fast, failing fast,adopting fast and moving forward withthe three Cs - confidence, convictionand congruency.

By shifting away from theparochial mindset that failure is wrong,the new thinking embraces the fact thatfailure is integral to your learning tobecome a success. To facilitate the shiftin paradigm and to empower yourselfin breaking through your fears, it is

essential to tap into your inner strength and master the fourpowers that you possess - the power of words, physiology,focus and belief.

These four pillars are what I call the "Pyramid of Power".They allow you to embrace change, manage your emotionalstate more effectively, and propel you to take massive action.

Massive action will lead to momentum that can help deliverconsistent results at an ever-increasing higher level ofperformance that will stretch and challenge you.

To harness the potential of these four powers, the learningmust permeate deep into your subconscious. Far too often,people simply say: "Oh, I know that" and then never reallyapply what they know. As an old Chinese proverb goes: "Toknow and not to do is not yet to know".

Take a look at what these four powers really mean.

Power of words

Avoid using negative words such as "I can't", "I'm sostupid" or "I'm a failure". If you consistently use energizing,encouraging and enthusiastic words, you will start feeling thesame. Break the disempowering language patterns and replacethem with encouraging words or phrases! Instead of I should,could or would, my favorite phrase is "I must"! The wordMust has power and once you start to use the Magic of Makingit a Must, you life will never be the same! USEEMPOWERING WORDS!

Power of focus

In life people tend to get what theyfocus on. If you focus on abundance, learning, joy andhappiness, your subconscious will assist you by findingexamples of these. Alternatively, if you focus on scarcity,envy and the recession, you will drive yourself into fear andinaction.

The most effective manner to gain focus and stay focusedis to ask yourself empowering questions such as: "What canI learn from this experience?," "How can I add value to mylife and the lives of others?"

"How can I be healthier, happier and even more loving?"

The power of focus is greatly influenced by the quality ofthe questions that you ask, so learn to ask great questions ofyourself. The quality of the questions you ask will massivelyimpact the quality of your life.

Power of physiology

Physiology is first - your motion will dictate your emotion.Try this experiment: stand tall, take a deep breath, lookskyward, think of something outstanding in your life, raiseyou right hand, and quickly bring it down and say yes! Motionleads to emotion.

By changing your physiology you can change youremotion state quickly, effectively, and efficiently. Master yourphysiological state and you can use it to break through fear,uncertainty and anxiety. SMILE, BREATHE, and MOVEYOUR BODY!

Power of belief

You must first believe in order to conceive ideas andachieve. Believe in yourself and believe in your abilities,talents and skills. Shoot high and even if you don't quite reachyour goals, you will likely end up higher than if you chosenot to believe. You are an inspiring work-in-process.

By believing that you can earn more and by following upon your beliefs with the 3 C's confidence, conviction, andcongruency, and ACTION, you significantly increase theprobability of stepping up the earnings in all facets of yourlife. BE AN INSPIRED MASTERPIECE IN PROCESS. �

If you consistently use energizing, encouraging andenthusiastic words, you will start feeling the same.Break the disempowering language patterns andreplace them with encouraging words or phrases!Instead of I should, could or would, my favorite phraseis "I must"!

Dave Rogers is Asia's Massive Impact Coach. He conducts seminarsabout sales, speaking, communication, coaching throughout Asiaand personally coaches executives, entrepreneurs, athletes, andmedia personalities in Japan, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Jakarta, andSingapore. Dave is the best selling co-author of the "6 Dimensionsof Top Achievers" and recently spoke in Bangalore.

Email [email protected] website: www.daverogers.net

�� August 20038

innovation

A recent survey by consulting firm Accenture has found thatmost senior executives continue to recognize the importanceof innovation for growth. Two-thirds of the respondents saidinnovation is one of the five most important factors requiredto succeed and sustain competitive advantage. But it alsoappears that many promising ideas are not commercialized.

Among the survey findings:

� Most companies commercialize less than one in fivepromising ideas.

� Only one in eight of the respondents felt strongly that theircompanies excelled at implementing innovative ideas.

� Even the companies with the greatest success atcommercializing innovations still bring to market less than60 percent of their most promising ideas.

The three most significant barriers to commercializing themost promising ideas were: a need for a clear innovationstrategy, a lack of a culture that encourages innovation and aneed for better management of the innovation pipeline.

Respondents also said that their ability to implementideas was adversely affected because they were unable tofree up a sufficient number of people with the needed skillsor lacked a sufficient number of appropriately skilled peoplein the first place.

In the survey titled Good Ideas Are Not Enough:Adding Execution Muscle to Innovation Engines, AjitKambil, associate partner and senior research fellow-Accenture Institute for Strategic Change, looks at varioustypes of innovation and the barriers to innovation thatmust be managed.

The paper identifies two areas of focus to help companiesrealize benefits from untapped ideas and latent assets.Specifically, executives should consider: more activelydesigning and managing their companies' innovation engine;the use of external resources, including outsourcing, toaugment in-house talent and accelerate value creationthroughout the innovation process.

Co-workers not getting their dueJeroen P. J. de Jong of the EIM Business and Policy

Research, The Netherlands, has found that the role ofindividual co-workers in innovation is underexposed. In apaper published in the International Journal of InnovationManagement the author notes that innovation researchersare increasingly paying attention to service industries,resulting in a large amount of literature on success factorsin new service development.

Add execution muscle to Innovation enginesThis paper investigated the drivers of innovative behavior

of individual co-workers, which is considered to be a majordeterminant of incremental innovation. From the literatureseven constructs were derived but have not been tested asdeterminants of individual co-workers' innovative behavior.

Survey data were collected from 360 persons working inknowledge-intensive service firms. Based on a regressionanalysis, it appeared that perceptions of job challenge,autonomy, strategic attention and external contacts arepositively related to innovative behavior of individual co-workers. Also, operating in a market where firms compete ondifferentiation had a positive impact. On the other hand, afirm climate supportive to innovation and a high variation indemand did not affect innovative behavior in a direct manner.

Technology brokeringWe've all read about the lone geniuses of invention:

Thomas Edison, Eli Whitney and Henry Ford. Although thisheroic notion of innovation is alluring, is it true? Not accordingto Andrew Hargadon, author of 'How Breakthroughs Happen:The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate,' aHarvard Business School publication. He argues thatbreakthroughs are the result of occupying a unique positionin a networked landscape across which ideas, people, andartifacts travel and recombine in new ways.

Inventors "borrow" existing ideas from an arena and thenbring together the physical artifacts and the people necessaryto apply those ideas elsewhere. This process, which Hargadoncalls "technology brokering," has been the force behindnumerous celebrated inventions. He takes readers behind thescenes--from Edison's Menlo Park lab to IDEO--to illustratestrategies for sourcing, nurturing, and exploiting ideas in newways for new markets.

Brain and strategyWhy do top managers, steeped in theories of good businessstrategy, still make bad decisions? While ignorance and hu-bris sometimes play a role, the brain itself-how we think-isalso a culprit. Insights from behavioral economics help ex-plain why we don't always think rationally and how our logi-cal flaws can lead to bad strategic decisions, according to arecent report in McKinsey Quarterly.

Simply being aware of flaws such as overconfidence,following the herd, and false consensus can help the strat-egist steer around them. Awareness won't put an end to badstrategy, but it may make good executives less likely toback bad strategies.

August 2003�� 9

Theatre with a difference

A few lucky Bangaloreans will not forget July 6, 2003. A unique theatre performance was staged by Saskenthat left many mesmerized. The start itself was unusual. Theysaw actors walking around and mingling with the crowd freely.They would step up and chat. What's more unusual for thoseused to the theatre ambience was that there were no sets orlights or props of any sort, just a few chairs and a motleyarrangement of musical instruments. The final blow was whenthey discovered that the actors didn’t follow any script.

The actors had no real-life theatre background; in fact theywere software engineers and HR professionals from Sasken,a Bangalore - based voluntary organisation.

Welcome to Playback Theatre. Playback Theatre was startedby a husband and wife team, which practiced psychodrama.Jonathan Fox and Jo Salas in 1975 decided that the generalnature of theatre was too restrictive in terms of the invisibleline separating the audience and the actors in any play.

They decided to create a form that would pay heed toreal life stories of the audience. These stories would beenacted by a set of five actors, with a sixth providing musicas a background support. The performance is interfacedbetween the actors, the audience and between the facilitatorand the conductor.

Playback theatre is different from the conventional one. It has no rules, and is yet able to help managers and organizationsexcel through novel performance enhancing methods

By Rajni Ivin

The Script hosts a theatre website, www.theatrecapital.com whichgives details about their workshops and [email protected]

Today, the play back theatre idea is a worldwide movementspanning 30 countries. In India, Playback initiative was takenby The Script, a theatre group affiliated to the InternationalPlayback Theatre Network (IPTN). The organization has beenactively propagating the movement with a group of actorsfrom various backgrounds performing for the corporates,NGOs and schools. The Script conducts monthly workshopsfor the public and has so far trained software professionalsfrom Wipro, Infosys, IBM, Oracle, Netkraft and Siemens.

The Script has a three-step Playback collaboration program,which any organization can implement for its employees. Theprogram is aimed at creating teams that can handle uniquesituations faced by organizations. It is a comprehensive modulethat aims at streamlining and integrating various skills requiredin such a demanding scenario.

Managers are exposed to exercises in psychodrama, lifeskills, art, poetry, music, meditation and theatre games. TheScript believes that theatre as a medium transcends languageand culture barriers, Playback Theatre works on two levels.

At an individual level, it brings out the abilities of decision-making, confidence, communication and leadership along witha generous dose of creative instincts. Participants have saidthey enjoy the chance they get for reflection, imaginationand nostalgia.

Some have said they could get in touch with their lostfeelings. For some, the play back theatre experience arousesa feeling of empathy for others, about listening to andrespecting people. Some even enjoy stepping into otherpeople's shoes.

At an organizational level, thematic performances canaddress complex issues in the organization leading to mutualdialogue and conflict resolution. Every one is encouraged toair their feelings, thoughts and hopes in a comfortable, non-threatening environment. It also enables the viewing ofsituations from a multi dimensional perspective. Other benefitsinclude the theatre becoming a great stress buster and a sourceof entertainment.

Playback theatre has proved to be an effective means ofbuilding great teams anywhere.

management by acting

�� August 200310

rich picking

Customer Profitability Measurement andManagement

This whitepaper examines how companies cansubstantially increase profits by precisely measuring customerprofitability and analyzing customer-specific profitinformation to identify and grow their most profitablecustomers, implement business changes that increase the profitcontribution of their average-performing customers, andimprove the profit of the worst-performing segments.Robert Kaplan and V. G. Narayanan, Harvard Business School

http://www.acornsys.com/value/whitepapers/

Using IT Chargeback to Reduce Costs andEmpower Business Units

This white paper discusses how an effective IT Chargebacksystem has the functionality and capability to achieve keybusiness goals of increasing the satisfaction of end users andbusiness unit heads with IT by empowering business units tomake more educated IT resource decisions and enabling moreeducated business unit IT resource consumptionto free upscarce IT resources for more critical business objectives, andthus improving the company's overall profitability throughbetter use of IT resources.Steven Anderson and Leslie Haight

http://www.acornsys.com/value/whitepapers/

Doing the basics right or elseA study by Ernst & Young and Oxford Metrica into

companies that experienced sudden and major shifts in shareperformance reveals that it is not rocket science that enablesthem to do so well or so badly and that the events that causesuch sudden value shifts are critical in determining a firm'sfuture reputation.

A unique study that analyses the share price movementsof the Global 1000 over the last five years explains whycompanies can experience a sudden, major loss or gain inmarket value.

The top 100 increases and decreases, relative to themarket, are examined in the research and the causesidentified and explained. Among the results from the study,are the reasons why:

� Almost 75% of firms experienced rises in share value ofover 30% in their best month

� One in four out-performed the index by over 50% in asingle month

� Two-fifths of firms lost value of over 30% in theirworst month

Ideas and insights from research papers

� One in twenty under-performed the index by over 50%in a single month

Two-thirds of the major shifts in a firm's share price -either up or down - are as a result of strategic events ratherthan those operational or financial. This makes it harder formanagement to rely solely on techniques such as derivativesor other instruments to hedge risks.

Instead, management has to be proactive, anticipate theimpact of strategic changes, and have the core set oforganisational building blocks in place to deliver confidentlyon their promises.

The most volatile sector by some margin was IT followedby Consumer/Discretionary and Health Care. IT firms arecharacterised by shortening product lifecycles, investmentin a speculative future and hence less predictable cash flows.By contrast, the materials and energy sectors with longertrack records and fewer intangibles tend to have less volatilestocks.

It is American firms that dominate the sudden value shiftsespecially the negative ones. German and Frenchshareholders, with the extensive cross-shareholdingstructures common in both countries, are far less likely torespond so rapidly.

Also, the extreme movements in share prices cannot beblamed on the announcement of annual or quarterly results.The research shows the company is just as vulnerablethroughout the rest of the cycle and, therefore, needs to beconstantly vigilant to take advantage of opportunities andavoid nasty surprises..http://www.ey.com/GLOBAL/

The truth about XMLMany managers are technophiles, craving the latest PDAs

and operating-system upgrades. But tried-and-truetechnologies are sometimes the most effective-and leastexpensive-way to go. In electronic commerce, for example,the old workhorse EDI still looks like a better deal than itswould-be successor, [email protected]

Matching people and jobsMost large companies use sophisticated software to

manage their money and their merchandise but not the mostimportant asset in a knowledge economy: their people. That'schanging with the arrival of human-capital-managementsoftware, which promises not only to help match people withthe right jobs but to discover and track rising stars as [email protected]

August 2003�� 11

rich pickingIdeas and insights from research papers

Risk Management: A New ApproachTraditional risk management approaches that treat risk as an

after-thought should be discarded. Instead, companies shouldadopt a new paradigm that uses threats to earnings consistencyas the key underlying risk perspective; both for communicationto external parties such as investors, financiers, customers andsuppliers, as well as internal stakeholders such as seniormanagement and employees.

This places a strategic importance upon the institutionalizationof a sustainable process to:

� Identify key earnings drivers

� Monitor threats to them

� Execute strategies to mitigate these threats.

However, the end result of enterprise risk managementshould not be to add a further level of expensive bureaucracyin the organization.

In its simplest terms, CEOs and the Board should view riskmanagement as an information channel about threats to its keyearnings drivers.http://www.ey.com/global/content.nsf/International/Issues_&_Perspectives_-_Risk_Management_A_New_Approach

Start-ups: A Brand Identity To Grow WithEarly stage entrepreneurs need to focus on two areas of

brand identity, the brand "Name" and "Logo" to ensure thatthey are created on a sustainable basis.

It can be the case that as the business grows (and theunderlying differentiating "mission" and "customer valueproposition" evolves) the initial brand Name and Logo mayhave to be realigned and changed.

By using a proper framework and thinking ahead, it mightmean that less change is needed in the future and the brandequity built up is preserved.http://www.ey.com/global/content.nsf/International/Issues_&_Perspectives_-_Start-ups_A_Brand_Identity_To_Grow_With

Bringing Managers into Theories of MultimarketCompetition: CEOs and the Determinants ofMarket Entry

Multimarket (or multipoint) contact has been shown todeter aggressive actions by rivals toward each other, producinga situation of mutual forbearance among firms. To create thisdeterrent capability, however, firms must enter each others'markets, which is just the kind of action that the deterrent issupposed to limit.

This study explores the questions: Under what conditionsare firms likely to behave aggressively toward their

multimarket rivals by entering their markets and when willthey engage in mutual forbearance? We describe how theeffect of multimarket contact on the market-entry moves ofa firm changes as the level of contact a firm has with itsrivals increases.

We draw on competitive intelligence and decision-makingtheory to argue that the competitive advantages associatedwith multimarket contact are supplemented by the fact that afirm's multimarket competitors serve as a readily availablemodel to reduce the uncertainty associated with market-entrydecisions. We hypothesize that these factors lead firms toprefer, up to the point where forbearance concerns becomeparamount, to enter the markets in which their multipointrivals already compete.

We show that it is not enough for a firm to be embeddedwithin a multimarket structure, but that for a firm to benefitfrom its multimarket position, its managers must be aware ofthis positioning and free of other infiuences that could causethem to behave in ways that are inconsistent with it. Becauseour findings show that newer CEOs can direct their firms toact in ways that are inconsistent with their firm's multimarketposition, we identify an area of potential competitivevulnerability for the firm.John Stephan o Johann Peter Murmann o Warren Boeker o Jerry Goodstein

http://pubsonline.informs.org/main/

Wharton-SMU Research Center: Working Papers- Year 2003� Liang Thow Yick, "Strategic Exploitation of Informationand Communication Technology in the Healthcare Sector".

� S. Hogan, R. Jarrow, M. Tei, and M. Warachka (May2003), "Testing Market Efficiency using Statistical Arbitragewith Applications to Momentum and Value Strategies".

� U. Cetin, R. Jarrow, P. Protter and M. Warachka (May 2003),"An Extended Black Scholes Economy with Illiquidity".

� Christopher Ting, and Mitch Warachka, "A New Methodologyfor Measuring Liquidity-Induced Transaction Costs".

� Dharma Jayanto, Christopher Ting, and Mitch Warachka,"The Impact of Liquidity on Option Pricing".

� Yusong Wang, Jagmohan S. Raju, and Sanjay K. Dhar(January 2003), "The Choice and Consequences of Using aCategory Captain for Category Management".

� Zhenlin Yang, and Y. K. Tse (March 2003), "A CorrectedPlug-In Method for the Quantile Confidence Interval of aTransformed Regression".

� Liang Thow Yick, "Intelligence Strategy: The Integrated3C-OK Framework of Intelligent Human Organizations".

http://www.smu.edu.sg/research/papers.htm

�� August 200312

role model

Management goes to the dogs!Lilian Georg has developed a dog-sled racing formula, a common sense, yet rarely followed approach toteam building. Her results are amazing

By Carol Metzker

I f your employees spend too much time on internal battles or work too many hours without commensurate productivityand results, it is not because of ill-defined goals, incorrect skillset or inefficient tools. It is because people don't know whoeach other are and how each member fits into the group.

According to the work of Jack Gibb, the grandfather oforganizational development, people get together for a projectand immediately focus on goals and objectives. They look atwhat they will do, why they will do it and how work will beaccomplished. They forget to first figure out who the groupmembers are and how they relate to each other.

External company groups, as well as internal,fall into this trap. Cross-company relationshipssuch as offshore-U.S. partnerships commonlyexperience bumps in the road not because of lackof knowledge, technical talent or skill; challengesresult from Americans not understanding Indians'motivations and culture, and vice versa -essentially, who each other are.

To address such issues, Lilian Georg, anorganizational development consultant, developeda unique philosophy and approach for working inorganizations based on a surprising concept - dogsled racing. "As a former manager of 62 branchesof a leading U.S. bank, I was trying to reach goalsand create high-performance teams. But often it seemed thatthe longer and harder employees worked, the less weaccomplished our goals," said Georg. "I realized we neededto back up and form a foundation for team-building."

On a trip to Alaska in 1994, the coldest and snowiest stateof the U.S., Georg had an unusual and fortuitous meeting witha musher, a woman who races a sled pulled by a 12-dog teamacross a thousand miles of snowy wilderness. "As we talkedat her dog kennels, I discovered that there were parallelconcepts between her dog-training for sled racing and mydevelopment of groups for business. "

Over the next few years, Georg developed and honed thefollowing steps to creating high-performance teams. Theconcepts are also the subject of her new book, "ManagementGoes to the Dogs" (Thin Book Publishers, August 2003).

� Get to know each team member. Just as the musher startslearning about each dog instead of focusing immediatelyon crossing the finish line, managers need to learn abouteach person on the team. Find out each individual's skills,knowledge, personality and values.

� Determine how team members relate and interact. Are

there team members who are natural leaders, long-distancerunners, or those who can rotate roles? To form a teamthat functions well under arduous conditions - like the dogteam's environment of ice and snow - managers must helporganizations understand, value and capitalize on members'differences and the way they fit together.

� Seek input from the team to define and accomplish goals.

� Create an environment that sustains high performance andproductivity. Reduce stress and celebrate success. Anexhausted sled dog cannot make it to the finish line. Adog that is rewarded in his preferred way remains excited

and committed for the long haul.

Initially, Georg encountered resistance.Upper management was concerned about thetime spent on team building instead oftraditional staff meetings. Employees gripedabout the soft nature of the approach. Butover time, the 25 team members who pilotedthe program began to value each other.Cooperation replaced internal competition.No one could ignore the results - "Our salesoutpaced other regions', employee morale washigh and customer satisfaction surveys wereglowing," said Georg. When her team becameknown as the highest performing group in the

organization, other regions of the bank - and later other banks- requested Georg's recipe for success.

Mike Kochenour, Chairman and CEO of York TraditionsBank (Pennsylvania, USA), sought Georg's expertise in thefounding stages of his bank. Her work with their staff andboard of directors led to collaboration, alignment of valueswith business objectives and "the momentum to overcomehurdles and open our doors," he said.

What sets Georg's approach apart from traditional consultingmethodologies is not just that it initially steps back from thegoals and looks at the humans. It's an element of values andspirituality. Vikram Dewan, Commercial Banking Executiveat Wachovia Corporation, discussed the communication andsynergy that resulted from Georg's principles. By helping eachteam member achieve their highest potential, the whole team islifted and business outcomes go beyond initial expectations,said Dewan - "the effect is profound."

Carol Metzker is a West Chester, PA, USA-based consultant. Shefosters knowledge-sharing in geographically-distributedorganizations and helps them innovate and create business value.Email: [email protected]

Lilian Georg

August 2003�� 13

managing wealth

Antique returnsA Shahjahan cameo purchased by an Indian art lover for over 500 sterling pounds two years agofetched him 520,000 sterling at an Art of India auction in London recently. What are you waiting for?

By M Maher Dadha

Vulgar profits like this are no longer an exception. Indianantique art items are going at big premiums in all theauctions in the US and the UK. One of the main reasonsfor this is the supply-demand gap. There are not many richantique pieces left in India now. Those who have them arein for a big boon.

Everyone loves a double whammy. If good return oninvestment comes your way, along with aesthetic pleasure ofholding a work of art, very few can resist it.

At a time when corporate executives earn handsomely theycan now afford to indulge in a satisfying hobby of collectingantique art pieces and at the same time use them as theirportfolio diversifier. It's the right time to start in a small way.

It makes eminent sense to view antiques as investmentoptions because they are immune to inflation and recession.The best example of this is how many Indian itemscommanded big premiums at Art of India auctions just acouple of months after the September 11 episode.

You must realize that like land, antique pieces of art arelimited. Therefore, their value should go up with time. Withawareness building up in India, the prices of ancient art worksare bound to go up. Indians can learn from the antique tradingcommunity in the UK and the US.

Unlike other products investments in antiques will neverdepreciate. It will grow with time. Along with investment,one can also enjoy aesthetic pleasure by holding an antique,unlike in shares where you don't even seem them now afterthe dematerialization of shares. Interestingly, there is no capitalgains tax on these items. So make a small start by investingin old paintings, antiquarian prints, furniture and engravings.

Maher Dadha runs Pokhran Gallery in BangaloreEmail: [email protected]

The only way interest in antiques cangrow is by setting up collectors' clubsacross the country, where they canexchange news, hold sales and auctions. At this stage what isimportant for the trade is the need to educate the people onthe fine aspects of art and antiques.

I feel modern art is getting undue media attention whilerich antique art products are being sidelined in India. Evencorporates spend lakhs of rupees on contemporary paintingsand rarely look at colonial or pre-colonial art for their offices.

However, awareness about antique art is beginning to growin India. But concerted effort needs to be made to increase itspace. This is because by the time awareness grows to themaximum very few antique art pieces will be left in India.

Institutionalizing antique trade

It is high time antique trade is institutionalized in India. Iknow of two prominent banks that are working on offeringantique items as investment products.

Institutionalizing this trade will bring in the concept ofauthenticity in a major way. This will really give a boost toinvestor interest.

I'm finalizing an investment plan where buyers of antiqueproducts are assured of their capital. I'm offering a buy-backscheme where a buyer can sell the piece back to me and gethis capital back after an agreed period of time.

Tips for purchasing antique items

� Buy only if antique art appeals to you. Enjoy what you buy

� Check the authenticity of the dealer and his knowledgeof the item

� Seek expert advice if you are purchasing high value items

� Diversify your purchase between paintings, lithographs,engravings etc.

� Start small and increase your collection gradually

� It's like a treasure hunt. Enjoy the adventure

� Form clubs or associations of art lovers. It will enhanceyour appreciation of the art. It will improve yourknowledge about Indian history and its rich heritage.

You will soon realize that collecting antique items hasbecome your hobby - something that gives a lot ofhappiness and has a destressing effect on a busy executiveor a businessman.

You must realize that like land, antique pieces of artare limited. Therefore, their value should go up withtime. With awareness building up in India, the pricesof ancient art works are bound to go up

�� August 200314

jargon buster

Most of us unconsciously use jargon or slang that doesn't mean much to speakers of English . Here are some commonphrases used during business meetings

Source: http://www.pacificovertures.com

Readers are invited to send interesting jargons to:e-mail: [email protected]

Saying Meaning

jump through hoops ......................................................... trying very hard (from a dog trick)

nest-guarding ................................................................... to protect

pig in a python ................................................................. slow movement; as in digestion

put the scotch to ............................................................... to stop

right off the bat ................................................................ immediately

run it up the flagpole (and see if it gets a salute) ............ test to see if it gains approval

sea legs (to get one’s) ...................................................... to gain stability

seat of the pants operation ............................................... intuitive (flying without instruments)

set on its ear ..................................................................... disrupt

shotgun approach ............................................................. strike out widely, as opposed to targeted rifle shot

smoke and mirrors ........................................................... tricks to hide the true situation

square peg in a round hole .............................................. someone that doesn’t fit or perform appropriately

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August 2003�� 15

guru speak

Deviation from rationalityBehavioral economics is now able to unravel many puzzling aspects of human behavior. It is presentinga more realistic model of a manager's judgment and decision-making pattern

By Prof. Rajeev Gowda

I n the latter half of the 1980s, I embarked on a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management at the Wharton School,University of Pennsylvania. My aim was to master economicsso that I could apply its insights to the real world. But theeconomic models I encountered were all built on the foundationof an ideal, Mr. Spock-like, rational human being. Thesecertainly represented how some of thepeople behaved some of the time, butthey left a lot of behavior unexplained.

I got lucky. I discovered not one buttwo groups of scholars who wereworking toward developing a betterunderstanding of how people behave.One group-the experimentalists-usedlaboratory techniques to study behaviorin simulated real-world conditions. Theother group-the behaviorists-usedcognitive psychology techniques todocument people's deviations from rationality.

The pioneers of these fields got lucky too. The 2002 NobelPrize in Economics went to Vernon Smith of the experimentalstream and Daniel Kahneman of the behavioral stream. Therenegade economists of the 1980s are now part of themainstream.

Experimentalists developed the "wind tunnels" whereeconomic institutions and policy frameworks could be fieldtested and fine-tuned ahead of implementation. Vernon Smith

showed how auctions could be designed better, howderegulation of electricity markets would work, and how theallocation of airline landing slots could be optimized. Infinance, experimentalists explained the origin of stock marketbubbles and other market irrationalities. Experiments, in short,have now become a useful and practical weapon in theeconomist's arsenal.

The cognitive psychologists came to the field aiming toidentify deviations from rationality. They have come up withan array of situations where people's behavior is in contrast towhat would be predicted by the rational actor model: Peopletypically use shortcuts-termed heuristics-when making

M. V. Rajeev Gowda is an Associate Professor of Economics andSocial Sciences at the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore.He has recently edited "Judgments, Decisions, and Public Policy,"Cambridge University Press, and has been national runner up onBBC TV's Mastermind

judgments, particularly when faced withuncertainty. Sometimes these heuristics are efficient and helppeople, but sometimes they lead people astray, and turn intobiases that can lead to sub-optimal results.

Behaviorists have shown thatpeople are not intuitive statisticians,and just do not seem to stick to thetenets of probability. For example,people have misconceptions ofchance. Just because a few

Information Technology entrepreneurswere able to successfully go IPO, a whole

Internet boom was triggered, without theparticipants conducting validation and diligence onthe feasibility of various business models.

Another problem is people's tendency to ignorethe phenomenon of regression to the mean. AlanGreenspan's lament about "irrational exuberance"

during the recent US stock market boom basically was abouthow herds of smart people were focusing on up trends andbehaving as if there was no underlying pattern over the longerterm to which the market would ultimately revert.

While statistics-related mistaken judgments can becorrected through education, behaviorists like Kahneman havealso shown that there are some deviations from rationality thatare derived from intuition. When evaluating choices when inthe "domain of losses," people intuitively turn into risk seekers.Thus the punter who has lost on bets on 9 different races andis left with Rs.100 would rather bet on the long shot in the lastrace rather than the favorite. It turns out that people behavethis way even if an issue were just worded in terms of potentiallosses. If the same problem were framed in terms of potentialgains, they reverse their choice, and revert to the risk aversionthat is typical of rational individuals.

Behavioral economics has slowly been able to unravel manypuzzling aspects of human behavior and is slowly presenting amore complex, and more realistic model of people's judgmentand decision-making. Managers would do well to familiarizethemselves with these insights so that they can anticipate andavoid mistakes when faced with difficult choices.

Behavioral economics has slowly been able to unravelmany puzzling aspects of human behavior and is slowlypresenting a more complex, and more realistic modelof people's judgment and decision-making

�� August 200316

Tanishq - The Turnaround Story

The case provides detailed insights into how Tanishq, thebranded jewelry line of Titan Industries Limited (Titan), aleading manufacturer of watches in India was turned aroundin the year 2000. Its launch in 1995 failed to succeed due towrong positioning and retailing strategies. Examining in detailits marketing strategy and the measures adopted by Titan tocorrect its mistakes, the case documents Tanishq's successfulturnaround..ICFAian Centre for Management Research, India

http://www.asiacase.com/ecatalog/

Supply Chain Management

Accenture teamed with the HP Image and Printing ITAmericas Group and the HP Managed Services Organizationto deploy an innovative "co-sourced" application managementsolution.

After merging with Compaq, HP's Imaging and PrintingGroup experienced a surge of customer transaction volumesimpacting its business processes and systems. HP needed arobust, flexible SAP platform that could grow and improvewith HP's new organization.

Accenture, HP's Imaging and Printing Group IT Americasorganization, and HP Managed Services Organization teamedto implement a world class "co-sourced" applicationmanagement solution.

The team hosts, maintains and enhances the supply chainsystem on more than 60 servers-designed for 24/7 availabilityand 99.5 percent reliability, with 98 percent of all ordersprocessed without human intervention. Accenture monitorsand optimizes more than 3,500 jobs per month while providingapplication management and help desk support through theAccenture Delivery Centre in Toronto.http://www.accenture.com

Arvind Mills' Restructuring Plan

The case provides an overview of Arvind Mills'expansion strategy, which resulted in the company's poorfinancial health in the late 1990s. In the mid 1990s, ArvindMills' undertook a massive expansion of its denim capacityin spite of the fact that other cotton fabrics were slowlyreplacing the demand for denim. The expansion plan wasfunded by loans from both Indian and overseas financialinstitutions. With the demand for denim slowing down, ArvindMills found it difficult to repay the loans, and thus the interestburden on the loans shot up. In the late 1990s, Arvind Millsran into deep financial problems because of its debt burden.As a result, it incurred huge losses in the late 1990s. The case

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case studies abstract

also discusses in detail the Arvind Mills debt-restructuringplan for the long-term.ICFAian Centre for Management Research, India http://www.asiacase.com/

Helping manage risks in savvier markets

TCS's project for CCIL demonstrates the use of technologyto attract institutional investors to India's debt markets.

India's financial markets have undergone rapid changessince the country embarked on a program of economic reformsin 1991. They have embraced technology, seen a substantialincrease in the variety and volume of capital markettransactions, and witnessed the emergence of securities andnew instruments like derivatives as important instruments infinancial intermediation.

Savvy market players now have new opportunities to profitfrom the markets -- by deliberately assuming risks. As theydo so, however, they need to have in place superior riskmanagement systems as well -- for, if they fail to managetheir risks adequately, they could pose a threat to the systemitself.

It is in this context that the clearinghouse structure of CCIL(Clearing Corporation of India Ltd.) designed to localise risksby preventing the contagion from spreading from a failedcounter party to others, should be of great interest toparticipants in the debt, money and forex markets.http://www.tcs.com/0_case_studies/

Leaving India - The Peugeot Story

The case explores the reasons for the poor performancein, and the eventual exit of the French automobile companyPeugeot from India. It discusses various problems faced byPeugeot and Premier Automobiles Ltd. (PAL), their jointventure partners, in their formative years. It played a majorrole in the joint venture company's failure and its eventualclosure.ICFAian Centre for Management Research, India


Makeover of Britannia

The case documents issues relating to the repositioningand diversification exercise carried out by Britannia, analysingeach step it has taken in detail. In 1997, Britannia kicked offits repositioning exercise when it changed its logo andcorporate slogan as a first step in its makeover plan aimed attransforming the company from essentially a 'bakery' businessto a 'food' business. Subsequently, as a part of its diversificationplans, it entered into the 'dairy' business. The case examines

August 2003�� 17

case studies abstract

in detail the process of such a makeover and tries to study therationale behind it from a marketing and strategic perspective.The case also throws light on the strategies followed byBritannia in its makeover exercise.http://www.asiacase.com/ecatalog/

Revamping the Supply Chain - The Ashok Leyland way

The case gives an overview of the issues concerning therevival of Ashok Leyland effected through a thorough revampof the supply chain. It outlines how Ashok Leyland, whichwas reeling under the weight of recession, staged a comebackby reengineering its in-bound and out-bound supply chainwhich resulted in huge cost savings.

The case discusses various aspects of supply chainmanagement and emphasises its importance in the context ofcost management with specific reference to Ashok Leyland.The case, aimed at the MBA/PGDBA students as part ofOperations management curriculum, helps them to understandand appreciate the role of supply chain management in anorganization.

Using the specific case of Ashok Leyland, it attempts tofamiliarise the student with the concept of supply chain aswell as the practical dimension of the same. It seeks to helpstudents understand the components of supply chain and theircritical importance and how it can be reengineered to helporganisations save costs.Icfaian Center for Management Research (ICMR


Enterprise Applications Deployment Case Studies - India

"Companies have to invest in IT technology such as inERM, CRM or SCM applications whether it is an enterprisesuite or point solution, to ensure long term viability in thiscompetitive landscape. The need to improve organizationbusiness processes to gain greater efficiency and sharing ofintegrated information within the company are key reasonsto adopt enterprise applications," said Alan Tong, SeniorAnalysts Asia/Pacific Enterprise Applications.

This IDC Study on Enterprise Applications Deploymentin India is part of the IDC's Asia/Pacific EnterpriseApplications Deployment Case Studies series. It was designedto provide companies that are intending to implemententerprise applications an insight to some of the adoptionrationale, evaluation analysis and processes, and selectioncriteria in successful implementations.

The case studies also complement the quantitative data inthe annual IDC Continuum study, which provides adoptiontrend of companies in Asia/Pacific. Enterprise applicationsincluded in the studies are enterprise resource management(ERM), supply chain management (SCM), and customerrelationship management (CRM).

If you have an interesting case study to share, please write to:[email protected]

There are six case studies for each country. Two studies foreach secondary market application in the 12 countries that IDCcovered, studying the companies' behavior in software adoption.The 12 countries that IDC tracked are Korea, PRC, Taiwan,Hong Kong, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines,Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand.

Some of the key questions addressed in these casestudies are:

� What are some of major challenges that are faced by Indiancompanies when implementing enterprise application?

� Why are companies in India adopting ERM, SCM, andCRM solutions?

� What are the advantages and disadvantages of customizedapplication?

http://www.it-marketanalysis.com/

PNB's IT Enabling Journey

Punjab National Bank used a two-pronged strategy to IT-enable itself and support present and future business needs.And along the way it picked up valuable information andexperience. Punjab National Bank (PNB) come a long waysince March 2000, when IT systems were deployed only at500-odd branches, and was very disparate. Only 35 percentof the bank's business was computerized and a number ofsmall software packages ran on standalone PCs.

Now in 2003, PNB has 101 branches on a WAN, deployeda core banking infrastructure, and runs 175 networked ATMs.It has also deployed a reliable security infrastructure that helpsit conduct transactions within its branches without worry. Thejourney doesn't end here, but along the way the bank's pickedup valuable knowledge and experience.

Issues were mostly cultural. Most staffers were used toworking in a manual environment, and some had worked instandalone environments. In the new networked environment,personnel at the node/counter didn't actually 'see' thetransactions updating in the various account books.

This gave rise to a number of queries and suggestionsfrom personnel. The bank consulted IDRBT and RBI to verifythe implementation success and it was reported that thedeployment was absolutely correct. Around six months later,the personnel felt that the environment 'change' had done themgood, and was used to working on the systems.

There were a few integration issues when migrating toFinnacle, but the in-house IT team was able to resolve themall. The pilot for the initial seven branches was a test-bed forus. The knowledge we gained from the pilot deploymentshelped us overcome the future issues.

http://www.cisco.com/global/IN/includes/tech_in_banking.pdf

�� August 200318

book shelf

Frontiers of ManagementBy: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Paperback, 2003, Publisher HBS Press Book

This book brings together all of RosabethMoss Kanter's Harvard Business Reviewarticles and many of the editorialcolumns that she wrote when she was theeditor of HBR.

The pieces span a variety of topics:strategy, innovation, customer focus,global trends, planning for change,strategic alliances, compensation systems,

and community responsibility--all brought together toenforce a "single, timeless message: the importance oftreating people as assets, not costs, and providing the toolsand conditions that liberate people to use their brainpowerto make a difference."

How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising TruthAbout How Companies InnovateBy: Andrew Hargadon

Hardcover, Jun 2003, Publisher: Harvard Business School

We've all read about the lone geniuses ofinvention: Thomas Edison, Eli Whitney andHenry Ford. Although this heroic notion ofinnovation is alluring, is it true? Notaccording to Andrew Hargadon. He arguesthat breakthroughs are the result ofoccupying a unique position in a networkedlandscape across which ideas, people, andartifacts travel and recombine in new ways.

Inventors "borrow" existing ideas from an arena and thenbring together the physical artifacts and the people necessaryto apply those ideas elsewhere. This process, which Hargadoncalls "technology brokering," has been the force behindnumerous celebrated inventions. He takes readers behind thescenes--from Edison's Menlo Park lab to IDEO--to illustratestrategies for sourcing, nurturing, and exploiting ideas in newways for new markets.

DoCoMo - Japan's Wireless Tsunami: How OneMobile Telecom Created a New Market and Becamea Mobile ForceBy: John C. Beck, Mitchell E. Wade

Publisher: AMACOM

Read the extraordinary story of Japan's NTT DoCoMo, leaderin the world mobile phone services market and a companyemulated by many. The authors from the Accenture Institute

for Strategic Change examine the enormous risks DoCoMotook in pursuing a "bleeding edge" technology which analyststhought was superfluous, and how their daring almost single-handedly brought an entire global market into existence.

Mission Critical: Realizing the Promise ofEnterprise SystemsBy: Thomas H. Davenport

Publisher: Harvard Business School Press

Organizations today have a critical need toshare important data among their owndivisions and with outside partners. Theauthor, director of the Accenture Institutefor Strategic Change, argues convincinglythat integrated enterprise systems are vitalto expedite the process-and that strategicbusiness objectives, not technical concerns,must drive planning and implementation.

Defying the Limits: Setting a Course for CRMSuccessBy: Stephen F. Dull, Marc F. Hayes, Ron Ref, Mark P.McDonald, Dow Bauknight, George Corugedo, Brian K.Crockett, Thomas H. Davenport, Jeanne G. Harris, GloverT. Ferguson, and others.

Publisher: Montgomery Research Inc.

The second volume in the Defying theLimits book series, this book presents awealth of innovative ideas from theworld's foremost Customer RelationshipManagement (CRM) gurus about whati t takes to provide best-of-breedcustomer relat ionship managementsolutions. Accenture experts from avariety of specialties have authoredseveral chapters of the book,

contributing practical advice and often challengingwidely held assumptions about CRM success strategies.

The Future of Leadership: Today's Top LeadershipThinkers Speak to Tomorrow's LeadersBy: Warren Bennis (Editor), Gretchen M. Spreitzer (Editor),Thomas Cummings (Editor), Publisher: Jossey-Bass

The Future of Leadership is a compilation of nineteenoriginal chapters from an extraordinary cast of the world'sforemost leadership gurus. Three Accenture professionals-Cathy L. Greenberg, Alastair G. Robertson and Thomas H.Davenport-are among the authors.

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Making the Invisible Visible: How Companies Winwith the Right Information, People and ITBy: John D. Rollins, Donald A. Marchand, William J.Kettinger Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Companies invest billions of dollars in IT without adequateunderstanding or methods by which to measure the effects ofthe IT systems within the organization and on the bottom line.The authors-John D. Rollins, managing partner of StrategicInformation Technology Effectiveness for Accenture; DonaldM. Marchand of the International Institute of ManagementDevelopment; and William J. Kettinger of the University ofSouth Carolina-have developed a new metric, InformationOrientation (IO), which identifies and measures theeffectiveness of a company's information capabilities.

The Attention Economy: Understanding the NewCurrency of BusinessBy: Thomas H. Davenport and John C. Beck

Publisher: Harvard Business School Press

Welcome to the attention economy, in which the scarcestresource isn't ideas or even talent, but attention. In this ground-breaking book, Thomas Davenport and John Beck, researchersat the Accenture Institute for Strategic Change, argue thattoday's businesses are headed for disaster-unless they canovercome the dangerously high attention deficits that threatento cripple leaders, employees and customers.

Davenport and Beck also introduce the AttentionScape, apatent-pending tool for measuring your own attention. Takethe AttentionScape at www.attentionbook.com.

Finance Sense: Finance for Non-Finance ExecutivesBy: Chandra, Prasanna

Price : Rs 250, Pages : 192, YoP: 2003

Publisher : Tata McGrawHill

This book will help you to: Understand the financial andaccounting reports used in business; Appreciate the financialimplications of your decisions; Communicate meaningfullywith your colleagues in the language of accounting andfinance. Divided into five parts, this book covers the key areasof finance and accounting. Part One provides a firm groundingin financial statements, financial statement analysis,accounting mechanics, and financial forecasting; Part Twodiscusses the key concepts, tools, and systems of costaccounting, budgeting, managerial decision making, andstrategic planning and management control; Part Threepresents an overview of the financial system, dwells on theideas of compounding and discounting, and introduces thebasic risk-return tradeoff in finance; Part Four covers the keyareas of financial management such as capital budgeting,

financing strategy, sources of finance, and working capitalmanagement; Part Five explores certain special topics likemergers, acquisitions and restructuring, international finance,and value based management.

The Eleven Keys of LeadershipBy: Smith Dayle


Publisher : Tata McGraw Hill

Are leaders born or made? How can I become a moresuccessful leader in my organization? What do I need to doto meet the challenges of the new workplace? Dayle M.Smith answers these and other crucial questions for everyaspiring leader. In an engaging authoritative discussion ofthe latest leadership thinking-illustrated by real-worldexamples of corporate and institutional management at itsbest-she offers practical tools and techniques you can usetoday to: discover your own leadership potential; create theleadership style that fits your purpose; use the power ofvision to motivate performance; develop the specialleadership skills you need to build successful teams; mentorothers on the fast track for leadership; exercise power andlead with confidence in all situations.

Make Time: Practical Time Management thatReally Works!By: Cole, Kris


Publisher : Tata McGraw Hill

"I was now surrounded by chaos. I workedhard, really hard, but fell further and furtherbehind. I'd wake up in the middle of thenight disheartened and alarmed by all thethings I had to remember to do the next day.Something had to change and it was clear ithad better be me!!" Make Time is a fun-filled and practical book that offers ideas,tips and ways to achieve results in our lives

- with grace, ease and efficiency. You will discover how toaccomplish everything that you want and need to do and claimcontrol of your job and your life. You will find out how to'Make Time' by doing more with less and fine-tuning the wayyou do things.

This book includes the Ten Make Time principles thatwork and helps you: Pinpoint your specific time managementheadaches; Focus your efforts and not spread yourself toothin; Build new habits; Manage projects productively. Writtenby an industrial psychologist, Make Time describes themindsets of terrific time managers and explains how to harnessthe power of the subconscious.

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